Hepworth, Party of Six

{The Writing Is On The Wall}

2012-01-31T12:03:00.005-06:00

Finally!

The wait is over. I had my ultrasound this morning. Kurt was able to be there for this one. He hasn't been to any of the others. I told the boys that I was going to the doctor to find out what I was having and that when they got home from school they could find out what it was by going into the spare bedroom.

For the writing is on the wall......

This baby was not shy. It was obvious he was loud and proud. There was no question.

I don't know what to tell ya, we are destined to be an all boy family. Of course it's Kurt's fault, right? After all, the male determines the sex of the baby.

I may be just a teensy bit disappointed, as this very well could be our last child and I may never know what a little Kurt and Kanani female version of us will look like. BUT we are immensely blessed to even be able to have children. We are more than thrilled to be welcoming a new little one into our household in June.

{King of the Throne}

2012-01-25T16:20:00.005-06:00

We've hit a milestone in the Hepworth household~

Mr. ELI (whom I might mention is only 2.5 years old) has managed to master the art of potty training at an earlier age than any of his older brothers. As his parents, we couldn't be more pleased. We thank you for the time you have allowed us to not only save money, but to just chill before this new baby arrives. All Hail King Eli!

{Sick Day}

2012-01-25T11:13:00.003-06:00

Three sick boys, taking a sick day from school, eating banana's.

{Self Diagnosis}

2012-01-23T09:53:00.010-06:00

I am nearing the mark of being halfway through this pregnancy. Hitting the second trimester, the sickness finally began to wear off. But it keeps coming and going. It seems as if I am more sick than well these days. Because I feel nauseated I attributed it to being pregnant. But I have decided that my being pregnant is not the culprit, but just an added symptom.

After feeling nauseous and trying to sleep it off only to find myself still feeling nauseated and dizzy when I wake up, I have self diagnosed my symptoms to the return of my labyrinthitis.

Yes, I think it's back. Light hurts my eyes/head in the morning after waking up. I feel pressure in/behind my eyes that make me dizzy. Because the pressure in my eyes make me dizzy I automatically feel nauseous. The beeping sound of the alarm really makes my head pound. Constant loud noise does the same thing, i.e. kids or t.v. being loud. Sleep helps, but waking up really sucks because it offers no relief when I have to get up, the symptoms are still there.
I now have something to blame my lack of motivation to clean, cook, or do anything for that matter on this detested stint of motion sickness.

I looked back through my blog this morning to see what I had wrote about it when I last got it and what did I find..........I wrote about it on January 23, 2011 exactly one year ago. Upon reading more posts on my blog, I wrote on February 16th, that it had finally ran it's course and was gone.

Ugh!

This could be another long ride. But I hope not. Luckily this time it comes and goes. It is not constant day in and day out like it was last time. Coming and going though, it's still no fun. Now where are my seabands?

{Crazy, Awesome Weather}

2012-01-05T09:41:00.000-06:00

Photo taken 9:30 a.m. January 5, 2012. High 49 degrees.

{Kurt Gets a Day Off}

2012-01-03T00:24:00.004-06:00

Thanks to the holiday, Kurt got a day off of work.

It was another beautiful, sunny, snowless, winter day.

We woke up, vegged out, cleaned up, and headed out to do something fun. We ended up downtown at temple square; again. We walked around the visitor's center, then the Joseph Smith building, and then went and saw the Joseph Smith movie.

After the movie, we went to the Gateway to goto the Children's Museum (which was really what the kids wanted to do in the first place). By the time we got there, at 6 p.m. it was closed. Lame that it closes at 6. So we decided to go check out what was playing at the the movie theatre, but they all started too late and we didn't think Eli would sit through a movie. So we went into The Game Stop. To look. Big mistake. When we left we had one kid crying because we wouldn't buy him a game, and another one complaining that I owed him money. We decided to call it a night and just go home.

All of us annoyed that we didn't get to do "anything fun" rode home in silence. As we were driving I could see Airborn (a huge building with trampolines that are all connected) from the freeway. We had wanted to go there, but didn't think of it as something to do on our day off today. I mentioned it, and we ended up going there. It ended up being really fun, and the kids had a blast. Kurt even enjoyed himself. I enjoyed watching everyone and chasing Eli around. We topped it off with getting ice cream and going then going home.

Kurt's day off didn't go wasted.

{Eventful New Year Day}

2012-01-01T23:24:00.001-06:00

We welcomed the new 11 o'clock schedule as we tiredly woke up and got ready for church. They announced in sacrament meeting today that there were going to be some boundary changes within our ward and stake, and that the official announcement would be made next Sunday at 5 o'clock. We are excited/curious to know what the changes are going to be. We've never experienced a ward split before. Our neighbor, who has lived here for 14 years, has experienced 14 ward changes. Our area has been growing like crazy!

After church we all came home and ate left over Panda Express and took a snooze. When we got up, we decided that the day was too nice to stay inside. It was seriously the sunniest, nicest day. It is so weird not to have any snow. Personally, I like it. So we decided to go pay Auntie Katie a visit. After visiting with her, since she lives so close to Temple Square, we decided to go look at the lights. Apparently it was the last day that they would be on. I'm so glad we went. I've been wanting to go forever and we never went and we never went. We made it there at 9 o'clock at night. It was cold but so worth it because of what happened while we were there.

Something was going on in the Tabernacle. I wanted to take the kids in and listen to the music, but the doors were locked from the outside. We had to wait for someone to come out so we could go in. As the door flung open I was standing right there so I could grab it so it wouldn't shut. As the door opened out comes President Uchtdorf and his wife.

WHOA! I remember my eyes got big. And I said to myself, "That's Brother Uchtdorf." I then heard Kurt say, "It's President Uchtdorf and his wife." She replied with a "hello." And they walked past. Kurt said to the kids, "Go see if he'll shake your hand." Gavin, was like I'm not doing it, I'm too scared. Isaac was like no way. Owen, he ran to catch up with him and walked next to him. It was obvious that Brother Uchtdorf and his wife were making a b-line to get out of there. People were staring to notice it was him. Owen kept pace and asked him if he could shake his hand. I don't think he heard him, and Brother Uchtdorf patted him on the head and said Happy New Year. Owen still keeping pace again said, "Can I shake your hand," and Brother Uchtdorf while still walking shook Owen's hand.

It was so sweet. My eyes got watery as I saw the encounter. President Uchtdorf is tall, and Owen was so little just looking up at him. It was a sweet moment. One that I will never forget, as I'm sure Owen won't either. It was such an added bonus to our visit of Temple Square.

I left my camera at home :( we did manage to get a couple of pictures with Kurt's phone.

{Stale and Crusty....}

2011-12-31T12:14:00.001-06:00

For New Year's Eve we had no plans. No parties to go to. No friends to hang out with. It was looking like a sad night for the Hepworth's. Although I don't mind hanging out and doing nothing, it was New Year's Eve after all.

Kurt's worst fear was about to come a reality. We had become Stale and Crusty.

Or had we.......

At a last minute ditch effort, we called 3 families from our old neighborhood and asked them if they had plans. And lo and behold, it looked as if they were just as stale and crusty as we were about to be.

But we saved them. We threw together a New Year's Eve shin dig at the last minute. The Hatches, the Rosenhans, and the Madsen's joined us for some Panda Express, games, and visiting.

It wouldn't be a New Year's Eve without playing the flour game.

We also added a new game to our bag-Noah's Ark, one that we learned from the Hillman Family. A new favorite of ours.

Well, we still got it. Not. Stale and Crusty. Yet.

{Christmas 2011}

2011-12-25T22:50:00.005-06:00

Christmas eve we found ourselves cleaning the house. It was a mess. We then feasted on munchies for dinner. We also put out our luminaries, as per tradition. The kids opened up their Christmas pj's.Then we watched Disney's A Christmas Carol, and then A Christmas Story. Kurt and I ended up going to bed at 2:30 a.m. To our dismay the kids were up at 3:11 a.m. We told them they could look at their stockings and the things Santa brought them, but that was it until we got up.

They finally convinced us to get up at 5:45 a.m. We decided to get up and get it all over with before we went to church at 9 a.m. It was fun to watch Eli this year. He is growing up and starting to understand things. The boys got what they wished for- a Playstation 3. They also got church ties, fleece pullovers, bikes, pillow pets, and socks. Owen got a guitar, Isaac got air soft guns, Gavin got cap gun pistols, and Eli a Zhu Zhu pet. Kurt got me some leather knee high boots & a Kitchen Aid mixer, and I got him a Kindle Fire.

All the boys wanted to do over Christmas break was stay in their pj's all day. We told them, "Knock yourselves out." So they did. The only hitch we ran into was Christmas Day was on a Sunday, and we had to goto church. Owen said, "You said we could stay in our pj's all day." He was right, we did. He refused to take them off. We said do whatever. So Owen and Gavin both wore their pj's under their church clothes to Church. It was a battle not worth fighting. It was classic. Owen's pj bottoms were hanging out the bottom of his church pants, and you could see his Spongebob pajama motif if you looked closely at his shirt. Kurt and I both had to laugh.

Kurt sung in the choir and did a great job. Since all the boys were up at 3:11 a.m. they were all tired and all fell asleep and I was able to listen and enjoy the music program without interruption. With Kurt on the stand, this was one exception where I did let the boys sleep through Sacrament meeting.

After church we came home and I cooked a ham dinner (I guess it was more like lunch). After that we all crashed. Me, I crashed pretty much for the rest of the night. I was exhausted and didn't feel too well. What a nice day we had.

{Christmas Eve}

2011-12-24T10:48:00.005-06:00

It's Christmas Eve today.
There is no snow. It is bright and sunny, and the air is crisp.
All the presents are almost wrapped.
I have a couple of things to go buy for Christmas breakfast and dinner.
I have been sick and haven't really done any family christmas things throughout the past week. I hope to do some family stuff tonight. I'm 100% sure we will.
The kids are excited for tomorrow. It will be fun to watch/listen to how Eli reacts to all of the action tomorrow.
I can't believe it's already christmas.

I went to Walmart to get some last minute things. I pulled into the parking lot, and it was like going shopping on Black Friday. It was crazy how many people were there.
Because I have been sick, the house looks a mess. We've been trying to clean it so it's tolerable on christmas day. Don't want a messy house on Christmas Day.
I feel bad that I didn't get done what I wanted. All the neighbor gifts. Doing fun christmas things with the kids. Baking. Being sick this past week sucked the life out of me.
Happy Christmas Eve!

{Spoke Too Soon}

2011-12-24T09:28:00.001-06:00

I finally felt pretty good for the first time in a long time last Saturday. FINALLY. Sunday at church people were asking me how I was feeling. I told them that I think things are turning and that I am finally starting to feel better now that I am in my 2nd trimester.

Well, I spoke too soon.

That night after Sunday dinner I was sicker than I have ever been. And it kept going on into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday I was back to my normal self of feeling just nauseaus all day / all night. Tuesday, my sweet friend whom I serve with in YW brought us a delicious dinner. She even brought me Ritz crackers and cheese. They seriously saved my stomach a few times. Thursday, my other sweet friend whom I also serve with in YW brought us over a plate of goodies and a me a little christmas gift. By this time I looked like crap. I hadn't showered in 4 days. But really, I didn't care. I had been feeling like crap for the last 5 days.

Today is Saturday, Chrstmas eve. We slept in until 9 a.m. I am feeling pretty good as I lay here and type this. I am not going to say that I feel completely better, I don't want to jinx myself AGAIN....

{Gavin}

2011-12-23T10:45:00.002-06:00

Gavin is loving all of the christmas stuff that they are doing at school. He insisted that I take of picture of his gingerbread house before he ate it.

Here he is with his gingerbread house and deer antlers that they wore when they sang rudolph the red nosed reindeer to the whole school. He thought that was so cool.

{The Cat Is Out Of The Bag}

2011-12-15T13:28:00.003-06:00

I sent out our Christmas cards the other day. I knew they arrived when I started to get emails, texts, and phone calls.

Baby debuting June 2012.

{New Addition}

2011-12-11T22:46:00.007-06:00

Today was the day that we told the boys that we were going be adding a new little person to our family. Isaac immediately knew his suspicions were right as he took the picture of my belly for our christmas card. All the boys were excited. They all want it to be a baby boy. I am hoping for a girl. Kurt says that we are destined for all boys, but I know that he is secretly hoping it's a girl. We will find out on January 31st.

{I Feel Grown Up}

2011-12-10T22:21:00.004-06:00

Today I joined thousands of Americans and invested in getting a Costco card. It's the grown up thing to do, right? I even got suckered into getting the American Express card that they push on you upon signing on. As good as it sounds, I hope the Amex card is worth it.

I went to get my membership on a Saturday. And of course for those of you who know, Saturday is the worst possible day you could go to this mega monster store. But I took in the environment, the people, the hustle and bustle, and of course all the sampling that my taste buds could handle. Gavin has never been on a funner shopping trip. In fact I'm 100% sure I will not have to ever bribe him to goto that store.

I will say-had that nice man not been giving out samples of the Stevenson Candy Cane Hot Chocolate-I would have never bought it- at any store. I was leery of the peppermint flavor, but he had me sold. I bought one of the gigantic cans of it. It is DIVINE!

One reason I ended up getting a membership there is because I wanted to get my Christmas cards printed there. It was crazy cheap. Not only were they cheap, but they were a large size, came with envelopes, 4 picture calendars, and they allow you to create/upload your own card instead of using their templates. Awesome! From the time I sent my order in online they were done and completed withing 35 minutes. Now that's what I call FAST!

Now that I have the cards, all I have to do is address the envelopes and get them mailed. It will be nice to have that one marked off the list.

{Saturday Is a Busy Day}

2011-12-10T21:52:00.004-06:00

Today was a marathon day.

It was our ward Christmas breakfast party and I signed up to make one of the many egg casseroles. This meant that I was up bright and early to get it into the oven. I followed the recipe just as instructed, but when I got it out of the oven it didn't look all the great. I took it to the party and quickly put it on the table and walked off. Thankfully, I used a disposable pan and didn't have to go back and claim my dish. Don't know if it got eaten or not. The fact that I used a disposable dish may have saved me some embarrassment.

Gavin played the part of the donkey in the nativity scene. He makes for a pretty cute little donkey. And did a great job.

Instead of having tables set up, everyone sat on the gym floor. Later that night my back killed. It felt like it was about to go out. I had to get the heating pad and just chill for the night. I'm pretty sure it was from sitting on the floor. Man, this body of mine is getting old.....

After the ward party Owen had a birthday party to goto. It was a hip hop themed party. He was so proud that he almost won the competition. It was between him and the birthday boy. It was a memorizing dance thing. He really does love to bust a move.

After I dropped Owen off I headed to Costco, then home for a short nap, then off to Isaac's basketball game. His team was crushing the other team. So bad, that the score keepers set both scores to zero and quit keeping score. When we got home this was when my back started hurting so it was to bed for me.

{There's No Hiding It}

2011-12-01T10:05:00.002-06:00

With each pregnancy I show quicker with each one. This pregnancy is no different. I am at a point where my clothes are fitting tight. Since I haven't told anyone the news, my tight clothes aren't doing me any favors. I busted out my maternity bins.

I must have been a desperate pregnant person because some of my clothes are too short in the legs and some are just flat out outdated. I have limited resources at this point in my pregnancy where my normal clothes are too tight, but I'm not quite big enough for the majority of my maternity clothes.

Between too tight and too baggy, there's just no hiding it. Every Sunday I goto church I say, "today is the day, how can nobody notice with what I'm wearing." No one has said anything. They have to know...

I thought the same thing at Thanksgiving. They are so going to know. And Katie has been at our house a couple of times and there is no way she hasn't figured it out. But no one has said anything. I guess it's the smart/polite thing to do. Because who wants to put their foot in their mouth in front of a lady who may just be getting fat and really isn't pregnant.

{Black Friday}

2011-11-25T23:00:00.005-06:00

I am one of the crazies and went out on this freaky Friday of a night.

I am a smart, freaky, black Friday shopper. Last year I was the 2nd person in my checkout line and was out the door with everything I wanted in no time at all. This year-I was that same smart, freaky, black Friday shopper and had everything I wanted in my cart and was the first person in my checkout lane. Yes, the first.

The clock struck 10 o'clock and the beeping sounds of hundreds of items being rang up began to permeate the store. Things were going great for me until the checker got to my last 2 items which I was price matching. It was then that I learned that they would not price match other stores' ads until the time that those stores opened. <

WHAT?!

They didn't do this last year.

CRAP.

I could have been out the door, in my car driving home, and going to bed. But no. They wouldn't budge. Wouldn't ring them up. I bribed her with a meal from the McDonald's, then money. She wouldn't take it.

So if I wanted the 2 items that I was price matching I was going to have to get back in the enormously long line and hope that it would be midnight when I got up to the checkout because that's when my price matching ad started.

I tried to outsmart them, and went to the back of the store to check out at the electronics department, because surely they wouldn't know about this price matching thing.

Boy was I wrong. They did know.

So I got in line a 3rd time and waited forever.

It took me 10 minutes to check out the first time I was in line. TEN MINUTES. I could have been out the door. But I found myself questioning if it was worth saving $60 to price match these 2 items 3 hours later while still standing in line.

3 HOURS.

By this time I was about to start to cry. I was tired of standing, and I was really feeling pregnant at this point. My feet were killing me. I stuck it out and eventually got my 2 items and got the hell out of there.

I think it was a poor move on the store's part to not price match until the store's ad started. That place was so congested with people just waiting to price match.

Needless to say- my smart, freaky, black Friday shopping was a total bust this year.

{Happy Thanksgiving}

2011-11-25T22:44:00.004-06:00

We had a low key Thanksgiving. It was actually really nice. I cooked the feast and was super impressed with how the turkey turned out. We invited Lisa and Laurie, Mike's Mom, to join us. Lisa made delicious rolls and brought a pumpkin and razzleberry pie, and Laurie make homemade cranberry sauce. It was simple, quiet and nice. Okay maybe not so quiet with our boys, but it was nice. After we ate, Kurt went and bought the game of Life. Lisa has the boys hooked on that game. They all played while I lounged on the couch and looked at the black Friday ads. A successful day!

{Halloween Wreath}

2011-10-27T14:19:00.008-05:00

While surfing the blogosphere I happened upon this little beauty. I thought it the perfect Halloween wreath. This little gem cost me all but $2.50 to make. Everyone who sees it thinks it's made out of wood. But it's not, it's flimsy 'ol crepe paper.

I found the perfect spot to hang it on my wall of frames.

Love it!

Halloween Delight

2011-10-26T11:18:00.012-05:00

I have taken delight in my Halloween Decorating this year. It is simple, cheap, and looks clean. My kind of decorating. I have slowly been gathering items to add to my small collection. Even though my collection is small, I LOVE every single piece that I have.

Although I have things scattered here and there throughout the room, here is what I delight in the most-my bookshelf display.

I enjoy the projects. And that's what most of this is. I am a thrift shopper. Paired that up with what I already had and this is the end result.

I bought this plate at the D.I. for .50 cents. I then cut out the haunted house with my Silhouette and put it on the plate. Propped it up with a dollar store easel, and called it good.

I love the little Pac Man Ghosts.

I bought this spider at Tai Pan for $3 bucks and printed off the along came a spider clip art from here and added it to a frame that I already had.

Here is another printable that I found here. They always have the cutest subway art for each holiday.

I LOVE this haunted tree. I bought it at Ross for $10 bucks. Definitely worth every penny.

The glass apothecary jar was a D.I. find at $3 bucks. I filled it with small, black styrofoam balls from the dollar store. I also found the black crow at the dollar store, too.

I pieced this creation together with a candlestick and plate from the D.I. for $1 buck for both pieces. I then added moss from the dollar store and added a decorative pumpkin for .75 cents.

I used my Silhouette once again to cut Halloween vinyl cutouts and adhered them to my candles. Once Halloween is over, I will simply peel them off and will have my original candles that I started with to redo for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I still have some projects and things to finish up, but they can wait until next year. Right now I am lovin what I have going on. It's crafty, yet not too crafty. It's orangey halloween, but not too orangey halloween. I've finally found balance in cutesy classy without the gorey cheesy halloween. It is a delight to me!

A leave of absence

2011-10-25T11:15:00.004-05:00

{Grandma and Grandpa K come to visit}

My parents, who are currently serving a mission at Martin's Cove, WY arrived at our house Sunday night. They were supposed to serve their mission from May to October (6 months), but they were asked to extend for another year. Because they weren't planning on being there during the winter months they had no winter clothing, and were given 2 weeks to come home and get some warmth. So we were able to see them for a couple of days before they had to move on down the road to Idaho.

Their attire for this mission is somewhat different from what a "normal" missionary would wear. My dad showed up in his white shirt, cowboy vest, bellow tie, and cowboy hat. My mom is supposed to be sporting a pioneer dress and bonnet, but opted for the more traditional attire while traveling. I'm just glad they didn't show up with all of their belongings in covered wooden wagon. A common form of transportation where they've been living.

Here is Eli sporting Grandpa's stetson.

We hope to get out there and visit them before their mission is over. Of course it won't be during those freezing cold winter months......No Sireee!

{Weekly Randomness}

2011-10-02T19:28:00.000-05:00

*Kurt sent me flowers. What a nice surprise. I liked that surprise.

*Facebook changed it's layout. Appearantly everyone thinks it's lame.

*Kurt and I went to the BYU/Utah game. BYU did terrible. We left before the 4th quarter even started. We had a fun night with friends nonetheless.

*We have Awesome friends.

*I haven't been able to sleep well for 2 nights in a row. It's really taking its toll.

*Upon Kurt's arrival home from work I told him that he had to take me out to dinner. He did. It was just what the Doctor ordered/what I needed.

*My kids are off track and have almost the entire month of October off. Thank goodness, I need a break.

*My calling is really weighing heavily right now. LOTS going on.

*Somedays the whole homework scene makes me want to quit the mother role. We even have homework to do while off track. It never ends.

*Kurt and I finally went to the temple together. Thank you Katie!

*For FHE we had the Kids make their Christmas wish lists. I can't believe there is only 86 more shopping days left....which reminds me-after 13 or so years, I FINALLY purchased new christmas stockings. They are cable knit sweater looking. Super cute!

{Confrence}

2011-10-02T18:04:00.004-05:00

It has been a relaxing weekend. The house is clean, and we just chilled and watched confrence. I forced the boys to watch the Saturday sessions. They didn't fight me as bad as I thought they would. They were super excited to hear that there was going to be a temple built in Star Valley, WY. Just having returned from there for our family reunion, they are very familiar with the place. Isaac immediately grabbed the phone to call Kurt at work to tell him the news. They were also excited to hear that Provo would be getting a new temple too.

For the Sunday sessions I pulled out my secret weapon as the boys weren't as into it as I wanted them to be. I had a big bag of Tuti Fruity's. As the speaker would talk I would ask questions, "What is he talking about," "What is his name," "What color was the last speakers shirt," etc.. Seriously, I couldn't believe how well this worked. They wanted the candy, and in order to get it they had to answer my questions. Worked like a charm! We also got some confrence bingo sheets from our home teacher. This worked really well too. I didn't think it would, but it worked for a good 4 or 5 talks.

As always the talks were invigorating and rejuvinating. We've had a nice, relaxing Sunday. As I type this, I am waiting for our dinner to finish cooking. I always look forward to conference and hearing our Prophet speak. I am truly blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

{The Rest of the Story}

2011-09-29T23:10:00.013-05:00

We took a drive up one of the canyons to Cotton? Lake. It is very pretty and serene.

We also had a visit from the Great Shwami

We did the Tutti Ta Dance

And chilled out

And of course did our best at getting a self timed picture of the whole gang

Not too bad, eh?

The Cabin we rented was awesome. The weather was beautiful. The entertainment, amusing. Getting the cousins together, really great. Hanging out with family, priceless.

{For Pat}

2011-09-26T23:22:00.001-05:00

{Hepworth Family Reunion}

2011-09-23T16:23:00.026-05:00

Labor Day weekend Kurt's Family had their annual family reunion. The destination-Star Valley, Wyoming.The place where Kurt's Father grew up. It was a pleasant time.

Papa Jay took us hiking in the hills in his back yard from when he was a boy.Here's a picture of everyone who went on the hike. The kids had a great time and all did surprisingly well.

Here's Papa Jay telling us a story about the hills we were about to climb.

Bryce & Oscar

Kurt and I

Daric's dead dear leg walking stick.....

Andrew & Maddy

Dylan

My little family

Owen

At the top.

The monument we built

Gavin

Andrew's Find

Emma & Nicki

Aleaha & Dru

Katie & Lisa

Dimond, Andrew, Isaac, Calvin

Natalia & Noa

Charity & Avery

Here's the chute we hiked out of to get to the main road.

Kurt & Krista

We guessed it was around a 5 mile hike or so. We were all happy to return back to the cabin to find that Nan had lunch waiting for us.

{I Can. Do you Can?}

2011-09-23T16:00:00.007-05:00

I went ahead and purchased 50 pounds of Roma Tomatoes from Bountiful Baskets. Talk about ambitious. I love to can, but then I also hate to can. Fifty pounds of tomatoes.....

I would have been fine getting 25 pounds. When I can, there comes a point where I just want it to end. But then when I see how much more I have still to can, you can't not can it. It would goto waste. So my frugal instincts kick in and I am forced to stick it out and, "Get the dang thing done. Jay Hepworth" It took me a couple of days, but I got all 50 pounds of those tomatoes done. Not only did I get a bunch of crushed tomatoes, but I also made some salsa; a first for me.

Right when I was about finished with them, I got a half bushel of peaches to add to the mix. I ended up making 7 quarts of peach pie filling {mmmm...... my mouth is already salivating} and then I cut up and froze the rest of them for smoothies.

I wish I had apples for apple pie filling and dehydrated apples. Dried apples are my favorite! I may just have to make a trip to Winco and buy some dried apples in bulk!

{Weekly Randomness}

2011-09-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

*I went to Tai Pan Trading. Man, I really shouldn't go in that store.

*I bought 50 lbs. of romas from bountiful baskets. I gots me some stuff to can and freeze. Bountiful Baskets should be called Happy Baskets. It just makes you smile/happy when you pick up your stuff.

*I wanted to take the kids to the fair. The day I decide to go it rains.....go figure.

*I finally mustered up some motivation to mop my wood floors.

*I may or may not have already started my halloween decorating. Hey, it'll take me a while to get it how I want it, and plus I want to enjoy it. (Normally by the time I get around to getting it up, around the middle of October, it's time to take it down.) It's such a short holiday. I am enjoying my little projects to get it underway, that's for sure.

*Watched Limitless from the Redbox. Man, that Bradley Cooper character sure is easy on the eyes.

$7 Dollar Leaf Wreath

2011-09-14T10:58:00.009-05:00

The other day there was a change in the weather. We opened all of our windows and let the fall wind enter. It wasn't freezing, but it was a cool, welcomed breeze. It immediately made me long for fall to be here. I love the decor, the colors, and the smells. I found myself out and about shopping for halloween and fall decor.

At the dollar store I found some large crepe paper type leaves, and knew that they would make a great wreath. I bought them, got home and started researching wreaths on the internet. I found this one made with the exact leaves that I had just bought. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

I then found this framed mirror at the D.I. for $2 bucks. The frame was perfect for my wreath.

I got out my glue gun and started gluing the leaves on. I ended up using 5 packages. These leaves are great because they have wire in them, and they look like real crinkled leaves.

I added felt circles to the back of the frame (the ones you use on furniture legs) so the frame wouldn't clank on the door every time it got shut. I love how it turned out! For $7 bucks, you can't beat that! I know it's only the middle of September, but I am anxiously waiting for October 1st to deck my porch out with pumpkins and the like.

9/11 on 9/11

2011-09-11T21:05:00.004-05:00

I have been glued to the t.v. all day today watching all of the reports, documentaries, and stories that took place 10 years ago.

I am in still in awe at the catastrophic damage that was caused by man. It is very disheartening and sad. The stories are both amazing gut wrenching.

I will always remember.

Weekly Randomness

2011-09-10T05:45:00.001-05:00

*We ate at a pizza joint in Park City. We got a large pizza which cost $18.75. For that price, you would have thought we would be eating diamond encrusted peperoni. Nope. It was just plain ol' pepperoni that tasted like money that had been flushed down the toilet.

*When packing up the family. No matter what. No matter how much you try. You almost always. Never. Get out of the door when you say going to.

*Eli pooped in the tub. Luckily and thankfully this is not a regular occurance. The last time I had to deal with something of this matter was about 8 years ago. I've been blessed.

*We finally bought an external hard drive so we could transfer all of our pictures off our PC and clear up some space.

*The whole homework thing at our house is not going so well.

*Bryce, Oscar, and Andrew paid us a visit and spent the night before hitting the road to AZ.

*Carpooling is awesome.

*I bought tickets for Kurt and I to see Brian Regan in January. Should be a good show.

*It's caselot sale time. Stock up people.

*Is it bad if my 2 year old knows/wants to watch Spongebob?

Weekly Random-ness

2011-09-02T11:19:00.001-05:00

*4 out of 6 of us have colds. Bleh.

*Kurt's Nephew, Mason, went into the MTC on Wednesday.

*I found what seemed like a gazillion ants feasting on a pepperoni that had fallen on the floor in our kitchen. SICK. Thank goodness for OrthoMax.

*Labor Day weekend is coming up. Kurt's family is having their family reunion in Star Valley, WY.

Campout

2011-08-30T23:27:00.001-05:00

We finally went camping for the first time as a family. All of us. Usually either it's just me and the boys, or just Kurt and some of the boys. We headed up to Gooseberry Campground and had a great time.

Kurt showed the boys how to make a fire and strike a match.

Isaac was determined to start a fire the old fashioned way. It didn't happen as easily as he had hoped it would.

Good Morning! Here we are eating Poptarts.

We even took camping a step farther and did some fishing. A first for us. We didn't catch anything.

When we got home from camping, we unloaded all of our gear, hopped in the shower, and loaded back into the car to do some school shopping in Park City. It was exhaustingly fun.

Sweet

2011-08-30T11:04:00.005-05:00

{Sweet Rolls for Sweet Girls}

Sunday night we went around as a young women presidency and delivered cinnamon rolls to our young women for a back to school treat.

Michelle made the cinnamon rolls and I made the toppers with my silhouette machine. I'm definitely getting my moneys worth out of that machine.

Happy Birthday Eli Boy

2011-08-29T18:23:00.008-05:00

When Eli was born and we brought him home from the hospital we were all sick. Today it's his 2nd birthday, and we are all sick. The cold has caught us and we all have runny noses and coughs.

Being sick doesn't phase him. He is still his regular old self, running, romping and getting into mischief. I did manage to make him a cake, and Dad is picking the ice cream up on his way home from work. No matter how sick you are, there must always be cake and ice cream on your birthday.

A+ for failure

2011-08-19T09:41:00.006-05:00

This morning was awesome.

There were tears, there were lunches being thrown into plastic walmart grocery bags, there were unsigned papers left behind.

It all started last night......
After the umpteenth time of telling the boys to get their homework done, I gave up. When Kurt got home, I told him that he was on homework duty. After being blatantly ignored, Kurt didn't ask them again for the rest of the night. Owen decided instead to play his DS. Isaac thought it would be appropriate to stay at a friends house until 10:00 p.m.

Kurt told me that I need to stop being a military mom and forcing the kids to do their homework. As hard as that is for me, and it is really hard, I didn't do or say anything to them this morning about their homework, getting their planners signed, or getting all of their stuff into their backpacks.

Sweet redemption came this morning.

Isaac asked if I could play vocabulary bingo so he could get it signed and turned in. Unfortunately, I was busy. And he still needed to do his morning chores. Owen, still obsessed with his DS thought he was fine to play the dang thing up until 1 minute before we were to leave. It was then that he realized that he had homework pages still sitting in his homework folder and that I hadn't yet signed his planner, and he couldn't find his lunch bag.

As I was backing out of the driveway with Isaac and Gavin in tow, Owen comes running out of the house with an armload of papers, his planner, a pencil, his lunch in a plastic walmart bag, and his backpack all opened and upside down. With tears running down his face, "Mom, I have to do my homework."

As Owen frantically works on his homework in the car, Isaac asks if I can play vocabulary bingo with him. I told him I couldn't as I had to drive the car. "You should have done your homework when we told you to," I said to the boys. Owen says, "What! You never told me to do my homework."

Owen, Owen, Owen. (head shake)

When I returned home after dropping the boys off, I found a folder sitting by the front door, an unsigned reading paper, and spelling and vocab papers on the table.

I smiled as I saw all the stuff that didn't make it to school. It also made me smile to see them worried that they didn't get their homework done and their papers signed. Kurt keeps telling me that I need to let them fail. I did that today. It was awesome.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-08-12T22:42:00.003-05:00

*I had a hard time getting into my YW lesson this week. I pulled through and finished it up at 3 in the morning on Saturday. Six hours before I had to be to church. It went suprisingly well.

*Justin, Tiffany and their kids rolled into town about 2 a.m. Saturday. We all leave Monday to head to Rexburg for a family get together.

*Never judge. You just never know.

*Took the kids out of school for 2 days to goto Rexburg. Isaac had a TON of makeup work to do when we got back.

*It was an absolute delight to spend 2 days with my family and see my kids play with their cousins.

*Just put your head down and goto work.

*My house has managed to stay pretty darn clean for a week. It must that Flylady thing.....

*I have to speak in sacrament meeting next Sunday. I need to start on my talk. I'm not stressed yet, but I'm sure it will start to set in sooner than later.

*I posted on Facebook that I poured a glass of milk only to find an empty bag of cookies sitting on the shelf. Later that evening my neighbor, Ally, showed up with a bag of cookies for me. It was so awesome!

*Isaac is addicted to earning money for an X-Box. He is also addicted to the KSL classifieds and checks them constantly giving us updates.

*Justin and Tiffany took our family out to dinner tonight at Red Robin. They rolled out of town at 8:30 p.m. to make the 6 hour drive to Vegas. I gave Justin my cd's that I made specifically for travelling to California, as it is a 10 hour drive. They kept me awake when I did it a couple of months ago, and I passed them onto him. Blink 182, the Killers, Pink, Katy Perry, Mumford and Sons, and Metro Station were on the playlists.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-08-05T23:57:00.005-05:00

*Eli speaks a language all his own. We haven't quite deciphered it, but we do know that when he answers no, he really means yes.

*I have been flying with Flylady for about a week, and so far, my bathrooms have stayed clean for the entire week, along with my bed being made almost every day, and my porch and patio have been cleaned up. Yay!

*I may or may not be feeling the pressure of having to teach the lesson in YW this Sunday, and trying to clean my house for my brother and his family to come visit that same afternoon, and try to pack for a quick trip to Idaho on Monday, all the while trying to prepare my talk that I have to give in Sacrament in a couple of weeks.

*I love having the kids back in school. They all have great teachers this year.

Weekend Memorial Part 2

2011-08-04T23:36:00.004-05:00

To see part one, click here.

On Memorial Day we visited the Hill Air Force Base Aero Museum.

My cute Family.

Jon showing off his ~~ninja~~ mad jabbing skills, while Melissa makes a ping pong ball hover in mid air! oooo, aaaahh.
Isaac and Henry take control of the plane.
Jon and Kurt deep in conversation.
More engaging conversation.
All the kiddos.

Me and Gavin.

Some sweet dudes.

Owen asking Kurt for some money for an ice cream.

Death by propeller.My man.

Waterfall in the canyon.

Before we left the cabin we had to get a couple more pictures to remember our adventure.

The Men.
Freaking hilarious
The Ladies.
Seriously, freaking hilarious.
Ok, so the laughing poses are both staged, but hilarious none the less.

Another one down

2011-08-03T13:22:00.002-05:00

{Gavin goes to Kindergarten}

Do you fly?

2011-08-01T10:09:00.004-05:00

{With FlyLady?}

I'm thinking of trying it out. Not that my house in horrible condition. I mean I AM a pretty good housekeeper and all.....that dust on my coffee table-adds character, that stench coming from my fridge-serves it's purpose to keeping me from over eating, the fingerprints all over my walls-priceless works of art, gifts from my children.

Okay, so maybe I could use a little more routine when it comes to household duties. And when I say a little I mean a lot. I often times feel like a slave to my house. Like I said, I am a pretty good housekeeper; but Seriously,
I've already read the entire flylady site and am forming my morning, afternoon, and bedtime routines. Along with a weekly plan.

Do you fly? I would love to hear your routines.

Hangin' In the Rain

2011-07-31T21:38:00.010-05:00

Today it rained like the dickens for about 20 mins. The boys thought it would be fun to take chairs and sit in the middle of the road in the rain.
UNTIL......
After hearing a loud clap of thunder, Owen: "WHOA!"
"Hey Isaac, did you hear that!" "Dude, I am outta here!" While they were sitting out there, I told them they better watch out for lightning, that it would get 'em. With the loud thunder, their hang out spot in the rain didn't last long. It was funny.

Can I get a thir-TEEN

2011-07-30T23:33:00.010-05:00

{Woot. Woot.}

Thirteen years and still in L♥VE.

When asked what our secret is, "Don't be mean."

*******

We set out for a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden followed by hitting a bucket of balls at Mulligans. Just as I was to hit my last ball, my phone rang. I'm assuming by the look Kurt gave me, it probably isn't "proper" golf etiquette to leave your ringer on. Whoops.

Isaac called to tell me that Eli had a dukey and that it was up his back. I was glad I hit my last ball, because I was on the phone for 20 minutes straight giving Isaac a play by play of the best way to go about cleaning up the problem.

*******

After 13 years, it's been a great ride. Definitely looking forward to the future and the journey that lies ahead.

Another school year begins

2011-07-26T23:26:00.003-05:00

Chachi and McGillicutti ready for the new year.

Piling up

2011-07-26T00:28:00.006-05:00

Here I sit, at 11:30 at night. Worn out and tired. As I look around all I see are piles. Nine hours ago, my house was spotless. Now it is riddled with piles. Camping gear piles. New school clothes piles. Miscellaneous crap piles. Things are piling up.

I am reminded of a joke.
Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Pile up.

Pile up who?
My boys think this joke is soooooo hillarious....

With school starting tomorrow, these piles will soon be replaced with piles of school papers. The piling never seems to end.
But this night must. And so I am going to bed only to pile the blankets on for a good night's sleep.

Life in the fast lane

2011-07-12T23:25:00.005-05:00

We have never been busier. Not in the last 10 years that I can recall have we been this busy. Mostly because we never had the money, nor the time to be busy. In the last month and a half we have more than made up for lost time. I personally have loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, It has been mostly the boys and I enjoying our summer shenanagans. Sadly, Kurt has had to stay behind and work. It's been some good bonding time for me and the boys though. I actually feel like I've been enjoying them instead of the constant getting after them.

Our summer is quickly coming to an end, as shcool starts up soon. Dang it. I just looked at the school calendar, and my kids start school in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS. Whoops! Looks like I dropped the ball on that one. We have a trip to Bear Lake scheduled the day school starts.

Like I said, we've been busy.....

Surprises

2011-06-28T12:05:00.007-05:00

I am the type of person who doesn't like surprises. Boring, I know. I just don't.

After Kurt returned home from Idaho with the boys I was surprised to see that he had bought me this

and to see that my little boy looked this

Riding trike down stairs=face plant on the cement :(

9 Years.

2011-06-26T21:23:00.007-05:00

{Girl's Weekend}

Yesterday concluded our nineth Girl's Weekend Getaway.

We sometimes refer to ourselves as the Girls of '94. (That's the year we graduated.) We come from all over the country to hang out for one weekend a year. We haven't missed a year. This year I hosted and we stayed at my house. I must say that it was a GREAT weekend.

We have all been friends since Highschool. Some friendships go back as far as Kindergarten. Even though I write about this every year, I can still say that I have GREAT friends and I walk away feeling revived, uplifted, and motivated everytime we get together.

This year there were 7 out of the 11 that normally come. We opted not to do our favorite things as we normally do. As usual we enjoyed oinking out on junk food and conversing into the wee hours of the night.

I couldn't have asked for better friends. I love them!

Next year is our tenth get together. Where are we going? We're going where everything's BIGGER and BETTER-TEXAS!

Let's get this party started!

2011-06-24T16:09:00.006-05:00

I said goodbye to these handsome fellas,

and hello to these cute ladies.

Girls of '94 Rock!

I'm Back.

2011-06-22T14:00:00.002-05:00

We have returned from our trip to California just in time to deep clean the house for my girls weekend event that will take place tomorrow at our house. It will be goodbye to my husband and boys; and hello to my friends, food, and merriment.

I've been super busy, and have enjoyed every minute of the craziness. We have been doing lots. And still have lots more up our sleeves.

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-07T08:40:00.023-05:00

{Part I}

For Memorial Weekend we went to Eden, Utah and joined forces with the Kraus' and the Anderson's and rented a cabin at the foot of Powder Mountain Ski Resort.

Between our three families, there were 11 kids. But we all have little angels so the noise level was never a factor, and neither were the messes.

With 17 people under one roof there were a lot of cups and a lot of cans of soda to keep track of. I love this picture of all of our cups (with our names written on them) lining the window sill.

While the kids gallavanted and played......

So did the adults.......

Known facts about getting together with the Anderson's and the Kraus':
*Melissa always brings yogurt/fruit parfaits for breakfast.
*Natalie punishes/wails on the guitar.
*Usually whatever comes out of Kurt's mouth is not filtered.
*Jon can not remember the words to a complete song when playing the guitar.
*Kade wants the facts. He's a numbers guy, and wants things in chronological order.
*Kanani continues to be the observant silent type.

Gold Digger

2011-06-05T23:15:00.005-05:00

Kurt snapped this picture of Eli today. Ha, ha!

Weekly Random-ness

2011-06-03T10:12:00.003-05:00

*This last week has flown by.

*We have been night owls and have been staying up very late. Can you say sleep deprived.

*We have been working on Gavin & Eli's room. We are almost finished.

*I. HATE. PAINTING.

*We have some fun things planned this month. It will be very busy, but very fun. Lagoon, Idaho, California, bbq's, & guest visitors.

*The kids get out of school next week.

*Gavin keeps asking me questions about the Civil War. "Who was the first person to ever die in the Civil War." "Was I born during the Civil War?" "When was the Civil War?" ????? How does a five year old even know what the Civil War is? Sadly I could only answer 1 of his 3 questions.

*Isaac told me that some of the boys in his class have crushes on girls and that they asked them to goto their soccer game. His thoughts as he laughs a giddy laugh: "It's gross and that they're too young."

*Wendy's Frosty's and Reese's Pieces is where it's at.

*I wish I had a self cleaning house.

*Pictures from the archive: Thanksgiving 2007

Auntie Lisa with Gavin and Owen watching the turkey bowl

Turkey Bowl: Kurt, Paul, Kade

Commissioned by Justin

2011-06-01T15:26:00.006-05:00

{Carseat Canopy}

Finally Finished! I'm putting it in the mail tomorrow!

Weekly Random-ness

2011-05-22T13:17:00.003-05:00

*I ran into a childhood friend, Krystal, that I grew up with at Gavin's soccer game. Good to see her.

*I went and got my nails done. For an entire 20 min. I sat and listened to a conversation beween the lady doing my nails and her co-worker in their native vietnamese language about who knows what. Probably about me. Isn't that why people opt to switch languages so they can talk about you without you knowing it.

*I potted pretty flowers in my two flower pots. It was a nice, beautiful sunny day...... We are now facing cold weather and rain. At least it's not snow. I just hope my flowers make it. Ha, ha....I spoke too soon. Snow. It's snowing.

*Got my visiting teaching done early this month. Ya!

*Sometimes hitting the bottom is a good thing. Though hard, the only other way you can go is up.

*I hate the cake mix that I mixed up for Isaac's birthday cake. It spilled over the sides as it was cooking and pooled in the bottom of the oven. (The last time I'll ever use that brand.) I came up stairs to a kitchen full of smoke. I opened the oven door and found burned cake on fire in the bottom of the oven. ON FIRE! I didn't panic like I did with my last oven fire experience, but I was shaking and couldn't dial Kurt's number correctly and gave up calling him. I HATE OVENS AND FIRE. HATE. It wasn't that big of a fire and I got it out by turning off the oven and blowing it out. Talk about freaking me out. SHEESH!

*Need to replace the batteries in ALL smoke detectors. Not one detector went off when my kitchen filled with smoke from the burning cake inside my oven. I can't even stand the thought of what if I didn't come up stairs when I did. It could have been worse.

*Between my three boys, they have been to 8 birthday parties in 2 weeks. I think I need to lower the dollar amount for birthday presents. They are leaving me dry.

*It rained almost everyday this last week.

*This week has left me exhausted.

Ancient History

2011-05-20T10:53:00.014-05:00

What happened to all of the Amelia Earhart's, Henry Ford's, Miss Ross', George Washington's, Harriet Tubman's, Mr. Bell and Mr. King's?

If what I saw today is any indication of what will be going down in the history books, our children's children will be learning about weddings, music, and sports.

I attended Owen's 2nd grade wax museum where I was able to meet famous people. Some of whom I have never even heard of. I met more Taylor Swift's than I care to remember. Right up there with her was Demi Levato (I didn't know who she was), Selena Gomez, & Beyonce. Kate Middleton was a huge hit too. Justin Beiber made his appearance, and so did Michael. Jimmer Fredette also showed up along with multiple basketball players, skaters, hockey, and baseball players.

I only met a handful of people that made history what it really is. Mr. Einstein was there, so was Mr. Lincoln, Annie Oakley, Johnny Appleseed, Pocahantas, and King Tut.

While this wasn't necessarily a history assignment, but an assignment that the kids could pick anyone they wanted to be, I found it shocking to see that our history is not only becoming ancient, but is being replaced by Taylor Swift and Tony Hawk.

Owen as Mr. Einstein himself. Not only was Einstein a genius. He also loved music, taking walks, and sailing. He even played the violin. He stopped wearing socks because his big toe would always make holes in them. Upon his death in 1955 his brain was removed without approval from his family and an autopsy was conducted.

Dear Isaac:

2011-05-18T15:22:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday!

We love you.

On the agenda for today

2011-05-17T11:35:00.007-05:00

{Gavin & Eli's Room}

We're in the process of painting Gavin and Eli's room.

I picked the color scheme for this room, and opted for dark navy blue on the bottom half of the wall and white on the top half. I am a little nervous as this room isn't that big, and painting navy blue could shrink the room even more. But I love the color combo. So I'm going for it!

Here the wall is prepped for an orange stripe that will go around the perimeter of the room. The green is tape, not paint. Although, I am liking the navy blue/green combo. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, "Just spend the two extra bucks and buy the green Frog tape." It's totally worth it. Stripes are kind of a pain to do.

I Got the orange stripe done on half of the room. While I like it, it feels too grown up for my little guys.

I've decided to go with my original plan and put up a white chair rail. It will make it a little more formal, and will still feel like a little boys room. That's what I want. I will save the stripe for Owen and Isaac's room.

I'm off to buy/paint some chair rail. It's a perfect, gloomy, raining day to do so!

Weekly Random-ness

2011-05-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

*I took like a 3 hour nap when we got home from Midway and found all the boys cleaning the kitchen when I woke up. A great end to a great mother's day. It was super messy. (If you know me I would rather clean the entire house before I clean/wash dishes.) Owen and Isaac both gave me plants in pots that they decorated at scouts and Gavin gave me a card with a picture of him holding a baby duck.

*I find myself not getting into clean mode in the mornings, but late in the day. Which is not good because that's when it's time to pick up kids, homework time, dinner time, bedtime, etc.

*Eli had a fever and he wanted me to hold him for most of the day. He is cutting his last two teeth on top and didn't want to do much. So, while holding Eli, I pretty much watched the entire 2nd season of Project Runway. The finale is next week. I put Eli down for a nap later in the day and he slept for 4 1/2 hours.

*Poo has hit the fan. After being ignored by children who just want to play all day long, and owing a $20 dollar fine to the library because no can find the case to the Spongebob dvd we rented, and hearing "But I didn't do it" for the umpteenth time and that the mess in the basement wasn't theirs; Poo. Hit. The. Fan. Let's just say that said children now know what Mom and Dad mean when we say the word responsible. The Spongebob dvd has been returned to the library, and my basement looks freakin' awesome (almost.)

*I dug a tree and 2 shrubs out of my flower bed. I also planted 2 of my favorites-boxwood bushes. Still have a ways to go, but it's looking good.

*Pictures from the archives.
January 2009. Running through the snow barefoot out to the fence and back.
2009. Isaac earned 2 awards at school.

Ha-Woe

2011-05-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

If you call our house and Little Human answers the phone, this is what you'd hear

HA-WOE.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

2011-05-10T00:45:00.018-05:00

Kurt whisked me away to Midway for a Mother's Day over-nighter.

♥♥♥

We stayed at the Zermatt Resort, a quaint little Swiss like resort tucked away in Midway, UT.

This was all made possible, thanks to Lisa who took all of the boys (except Eli) overnight.

Eli got to hang out with us.

It was a very needed, relaxing trip. We rolled in around dinner time. After we checked in, we ate at a restaurant called the Dancing Bear where our waiter's name was Gater. I wanted my steak well done, but he told me it would take all night to cook it, and that I should try it medium well. It reaffirmed why I like my food almost burnt to a crisp.

After we ate, we hit up the pool. It was enjoyable for the 15 minutes we were in it. Little Human was tired and cranky so we didn't stay long.

Here's Little Human jumping on the bed

......and here he is all cozied up on the bed.

And here's me,

....I took advantage of the robes that came with the room.

....and snacked on chocolate covered cinnamon bears and peanut m&m's.

The next day we went and fed the goats. Yes, they have goats on the property.

While Kurt sent me off to the spa for a pedicure,

He and Eli went for a walk, packed up the car and hung out in our room. We then went to Heber City and ate at KFC for lunch before heading to Lisa's house to pick up the boys.

When we picked up the boys, they were under strict instruction from Lisa that if they had fun they would be in serious trouble. So from the sounds of it, they had an "AWFUL" time while staying at her house.

When we got home, we discovered that we had no milk. We had to put Eli to bed with a bottle full of Sunny D. And for breakfast, we had to have poptarts. Bleh.

A small price to pay for a fantastic overnight trip.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-05-06T10:30:00.003-05:00

*I went to Target to do some shopping and when I came out the car wouldn't start. Colossal bummer. We narrowed it down to the starter and that it needs to be fixed. We had to leave it over night in the parking lot until the morning when we could tow it to a shop. CRAP! If it's not one thing, it's another.

*If you are going to use painter's tape, save yourself some time and use the green Frogtape, not the blue painter's tape. It is so AWESOME! It works amazingly well. It is definitely worth paying the 2 extra bucks.

*I was secretly hoping (even though the sun is shining) that the soccer games would be cancelled due to the snowy cold weather. Especially since I will have no car to take my boys to their games. :( Ha, Ha! YES! as I was typing this the phone rang and it was the coach saying that all the soccer games have been cancelled for the day. I am super stoked because now I don't have to get ready AND I can paint all day. Yippie Skippie!!!

*Sunday, May 1. This just in----Osama Bin Laden has been killed by the U.S.

*I spent the entire day cleaning out our food storage room. I really love this room. It's a room that is filled with many hours of my time, energy, and frugality to make it what it is. From canning to my coupon bargain deals. Every time I go in there, it brings comfort and security.

*We are tinkering with the idea of getting our back yard put in. We had a guy come check it out to give us an estimate. I'm scared to receive his email with the dollar amount. ....We got our estimate {yikes}.

*I LOVE the smell of Irish Spring bar soap. To the point where my mouth salivates, and I could eat it. I'm not kidding.

*I was working in the yard and I turned on the hose to water some plants. After finished, I went to get a Mountain Dew out of the storage room that I just cleaned two days prior. When I got there, I found water running down the cement wall and puddling on the floor. CRAP! The hose spiket pipe has a leak and is right above our storage room. LUCKILY I went to get a soda out of that room and found that we had a problem just minutes after it happened. And even more LUCKILY I just cleaned that room out 2 days prior, so I had all of our stuff and paperwork off of the floor. The things that got wet were no biggie. They were in plastic and I was able to just wipe them off. {phew!} But seriously- we just paid to have the car fixed, and now......we have to pay to have the pipe fixed. grrrrr.......

*Pictures from the archives:
Mother's Day 2008.

Mother's Day card I made for my Mom and my Mother-in-Law. 2008.

I ♥ Couponing

2011-05-04T10:30:00.004-05:00

When I saw the Smith's ad my heart skipped a beat. After scanning the first page, I knew it was gonna be a good one because I had several coupons that matched up. Even though I just had a great couponing trip the night before, I had to go out again with the new ad.

After I did all my research, printed/cut coupons, and had everything written out, I hopped in the Subie and headed to the Mart (walmart). I rarely goto Smith's, or anywhere else for that matter. I love shopping at Walmart and I price match everything.

Here's what I got.
3 x Sunny Delights
1 x Yoplait Yogurt
9 x boxes Captain Crunch Cereal
3 x boxes Cinnamon Life Cereal
3 x boxes Baby Swiss Cheese Its
13 x boxes Ronzoni Penne Pasta
8 x Goldfish Crackers
1 x Schick Quatro 4 women's razor

Regular Price: $89.11
I paid: $20.03 (after price matching and coupons)
That's 40 items for .50 a piece with a savings of 78%
The 13 boxes of Ronzoni Penne Pasta at regular price totalled $20.54. So it's like I paid regular price for the pasta and got everything else for FREE!

It's trips like these that make me want to resurrect my coupon blog again.....

The Painting

2011-05-03T11:08:00.013-05:00

{The Painting......by Jay Hepworth}

We've yet to give it a name.
It's been 5 months in the making, and it's finally finished and on the wall!
Kurt's Dad took on this massive project. Although it may not look that big on our wall, each canvas is 3.5' x 2.5'. Totalling 7' x 5'. We gave him a picture that we liked and he painted it up, in his spare time. Spare time.......the man works like 80 hours a week. When I say spare time, I mean in his sleep. He's that good. He added Diamond's Peak and the sunset. Diamond Peak is the 4th highest (11,923 feet) mountain in Idaho. Kurt and his Dad "hiked the crap out of this mountain" as Kurt would say.This is my favorite part of the painting. Our initials. It was an added surprise. I love it! Awwww, it's true love.

We are super happy with the results. It looks awesome on our wall. You should stop by and see it. Or drive by; it's very visible from the street.

I didn't order this

2011-04-29T16:01:00.003-05:00

Where is the sunshine?

Weekly Randomness

2011-04-29T08:20:00.002-05:00

*Haircut time. I hate haircut time. My boys hate haircut time. I wish I was better/faster at it.

*I LOVE eating out. We did way too much of it this week.

*It's a christmas miracle! Kurt only had to work a 1/2 day on a Wednesday due to remodeling.

*I stopped filling my car up with gas once it got to $65.00. I've never paid that much to fill up my car. It was still going too. Ugggghhhh.

*I fell asleep on the couch and was woken up to Gavin giving me a kiss on the forehead before he laid down to take a nap himself. Awwwww! The sweetest thing.

*I think we will be eating boiled eggs for a.very.long.time...

*My lips are on fire. They aren't chapped. They are on FIRE! It's very strange. I've tried everything. Nothing seems to solve the problem. The closest thing that seems to be working is Burt's Bees. And even then, they are still smoldering after an hour of application.

*Kurt and I went out to Tuscany, the restaurant. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was divine. The dining area was dimly lit, so when you open up your menu it lights up so you can see what you're ordering. It was cool. I got the pork chop and mashed potatoes and Kurt got the half chicken and mashed potatoes. Wowza! The food was awesome! We had to laugh as the valet guy brought us our old, dirty, cracked windshield Subaru. From the the B'mers, Mercedes, and Audi's, it was obvious we were a little out of our league. I asked Kurt if the valet guy thought the tip Kurt gave him was as cheap as our car. Ha, Ha.

*Smokedshadow and Twinks are the names of the eyeshadows I bought yesterday.

*I have issues with papertowels. I don't think they should be used to dry hands or to take the place of a napkin. We have dish towels and napkins for that. Papertowels should be used to clean up spills, clean mirrors, and be used in place of a towel or a napkin ONLY if they are not available.

*Picutres from the archives:
Gavin. 2006.

2008. Isaac and Owen reading outside at Nan's.

How to make a picture enlarge when you click on it in Blogger.

2011-04-27T08:45:00.004-05:00

I have FINALLY figured it out! It's taken me a few years.........

When I post pictures on my blog sometimes when you'd click on them they'd enlarge, sometimes they wouldn't. Sometimes only one would enlarge and then another wouldn't. It would drive me CRAZY loco. I couldn't figure out why.

Until now.... dun, dun, dunnnnn

When you start a post and you download pictures, click on the edit Html tab and download your pictures in the Html tab and not the Compose tab.

For example:

This picture was downloaded in Compose mode.This same picture was downloaded in Html mode.

When you click on the pictures you will notice that only the one that was posted in Html mode will enlarge.

One thing that I have also noticed is that once you post a picture in Html mode and you want to move it, you have to move it while in Html mode (by cutting and pasting). If you click on the compose tab and after you downloaded your picture in html mode and move it, for some reason it won't enlarge.

For example: I downloaded this picture in Html mode, then clicked on the compose tab to move it down here on the page, and now it won't enlarge. ???

Don't ask me, I don't get it. I just know that it doesn't work. So stay in Html mode and download and move your pictures around. If you download them in the order that you want them to go on your post, it helps. I find it hard to distinguish where one picture Html code ends and where one starts. So I download them in the order I want them in. (Of course you have to work backwards in your downloading. The first picture you download gets pushed to be the last picture, so start with the last picture you want to be posted on your post and work backwards.)

YOU CAN, however, jump back to the compose tab and put your text in if you want and it won't mess up your picture enlarging capabilities.

I figured this tidbit of info out when I posted my last two posts here and here. The first post I used the Html tab when downloading my pics, and the 2nd post I used the compose tab.

Hallelujah! The mystery has been solved. At least I think it has. It seems to work.....

Gems in the middle of no where.

2011-04-26T13:41:00.010-05:00

First Stop.

{Spiral Jetty}

Just west of Brigham City, out in the middle of no where, lies a work of art known as the Spiral Jetty. It was constructed by a man named Robert Smithson in the 1970's. It is located on the Great Salt Lake and is made of black basalt rock and earth. It is a coil that is 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that stretches out counter clockwise in the water.Depending on the water levels, sometimes the Jetty is submerged. When it isn't submerged, it is visible and you can walk on it. Right now the water level is low and you can walk on it. I have heard of the Jetty and have always wanted to check it out. Even though it's out in the middle of no where, it was worth the drive and worth doing once.

The boys loved it. This was one of the best day trips we've taken in a long time. Owen running on the Jetty. He had endless amounts of energy and took a few laps around the Jetty.
Salt build up from the water of the Great Salt Lake.

On the walk from the car to get to the Jetty we found this white rock all by it's lonesome surrounded by all black rocks.
The boys walking on the Jetty.

Kurt.
We put Eli in the backpack carrier, but all he wanted to do was get out so he could get in the water Kurt keeping a grip on Eli.
Kanani.
Owen taking a break from running.The boys wanted to get in the water. Ewwww. Gross if you ask me. It wasn't deep. The deepest it got was up to their knees. They walked way out there, to the point where they could barely hear us calling them to stop and come back. It was a little freaky because the further out they went the smaller and smaller they got and it got hazier and hazier and harder to see them.
At one point I heard Gavin yell, "Hey Isaac, If you're hungry just lick your leg because it tastes like salt." Nice. Smooching on the Jetty.
Wild weeds.
Kanani and the Jetty.
Kurt.
Heading back to the car.

{THE END}

Gems In The Middle of No Where.

2011-04-25T09:40:00.015-05:00

First stop.

{Golden Railroad Spike}

The kids are on spring break. Since we weren't taking a vacation anywhere.... we packed up the car for a day trip to find some of the hidden gems that the state of Utah has to offer. Our destination was the spiral jetty. But along the way we found a couple of other places to stop.

The Boys are standing on the last tie that was laid to gap the railroad where East meets West.
We got there just before the visitors center closed.

Eli was in heaven. Rocks everywhere. Since it was national park month/week (where all entry to parks are free) we didn't have to pay the fee upon entering the visitors center. I guess it's a national park/monument. We spotted a few little jackrabbits hopping around. There was also gift shop and a movie that you could watch. Oh and by the way, this is the last place to use the restroom before getting to the jetty.

Last stop.

{Rocket Display}

That's what the road sign says, "Rocket Display 2 miles". We aren't really sure what the place was, we assume it was where they make rockets. But it was really cool. Kurt was fascinated by the enormity of them.

Reading up on the display.

Middle of no where.

Anybody in here?

Eli climbing and swinging as usual.

Kurt giving a visual with his hands and making an eruption sound. This is where the fire shoots out to launch the rocket.

Running up the sides of the wall.
The boys loved the rocket display. It was well worth the stop. The Golden Railroad Spike was a little anti-climatical.

Weekly Randomness

2011-04-22T09:25:00.003-05:00

*A soccer mom = a tan mom.

*I thought I was going to have to do the Heimlich on Gavin. He was eating a hotdog (more like he was eating half a hotdog and bun at one time). He just stood there frozen. I asked him if he was choking over and over, and he just stood there- frozen. Finally I said spit it out. So he did. And then he started to cry. I think it scared him pretty good. We had a good talk about you should do if you are choking.

*I stayed in my pj's all day and went through all of the paper piles in my bedroom. I filed, and cleaned, and trashed a ton of paper. I love purging.

*I have been gathering paperwork for our 72 hour kits. While doing so, I have been going through and getting rid/shredding old paperwork. I have been getting rid of 2+ grocery bags a day.

*Kurt cleaned the kitchen twice this week (without me asking). Sigh. I ♥ him.

*We broke out the bbq this past week. I love me a good, grilled hamburger. YUM!

*What I learned at Young Women's on Wednesday night. When in trouble (serious trouble-the kind where you feel you're in danger or threatened) yell the F-word. No, the F-word that I'm referring to isn't the word fire. The "real true blue don't ever say that word or you're going to hell" F-word. I had a lot of explaining to do when parents arrived.....
**We had a police officer come speak to us on safety. He said that the one word that will get peoples' attention and could save your life is the F-word. Especially living where we do-it is something that you don't hear a lady say and it will turn heads.
I guess yelling help just isn't as effective.?!

*We took the kids to the library. It was actually a really nice time. No crying, complaining. Just nice, good kids. It was nice.

*My parents leave tomorrow for their mission.

*I love it when Eli eats something like a cheerio. He sticks his whole hand in his mouth just to get that one cheerio in. He never just puts the food in his mouth. His hand has to go in with it.

*Pictures from the archives:
Taken this morning. 2011.
Kurt messed up Eli's hair this morning as he was doing his hair getting ready for work.
The boys drawing and playing the Wii.

Weekly Randomness

2011-04-17T23:30:00.004-05:00

*Grandma and Grandpa stayed here until Monday. We had a great time with them. We ate way too much food. They taught the kids how to play Codfish, their new favorite game.

*Owen's baptism was wonderful. What a good boy he is. He looked so handsome in his shirt and tie. He even bore his testimony on Sunday at church.

*Monday was an awesome day. It wasn't a normal day as in feeling the grind of the everyday work load. I got up and had most of it done by 9:15 AND was dressed and ready for the day. A very weird feeling. I had the whole day to do whatever. I cleaned in the garage and worked on our 72 hour kits.

*I AM BACK on the couponing bandwagon. Had a great shopping trip at the Mart.

*We went to the new McDonald's........was very disappointed in the layout of the place. It was really small, and not conducive for a community made of practically all kids.

*I LOVE SUNSHINE!

*My parents leave on their Mission to Martin's Cove next week.

*Pictures from the archives:

2010. Gavin tuckered out after a day of 4 wheeling. 2009. Kurt and I.

A quote, Dooms Day, and a Recipe.

2011-04-15T09:28:00.016-05:00

"Most of the things we worry about NEVER happen."

*****

Today is April 15. Tax Day. Dooms Day. The day some of you rejoice at the fattening of your wallets. It is also the day where some of us wince at the mere sight of the envelope which holds "the check" as it slides down the mail chute at the post office. The only good thing about Dooms Day is that it is on a Friday. And that is a good thing.

*****

White Chocolate Covered Popcorn

Pop 2 batches of popcorn with your popcorn popper. Mix in some small marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Melt some white chocolate and drizzle over popcorn, marshmallows and pretzels. Stir and eat. But don't eat yourself sick.

*I found that 1/2 package of white almond bark melted in the microwave did the trick. I also recommend leaving some of the popcorn uncoated. The last time I made this I made sure everything was coated with chocolate and it was really good, but it was really rich. This would be really good with m & m 's, coconut, nuts, etc. YUM.

Owen's Big Day!

2011-04-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

{Owen gets baptized}

What an awesome weekend we had! Owen's baptism was really nice. He looked so handsome in his shirt and tie. We are so proud of him and the person he is becoming.

Grandma & Grandpa K came and so did Nan and Papa. Auntie Helena and baby Kai, Katie, and Cindy came too. And Lisa brought Mike.

It was nice to have everyone join us. I enjoyed having a clean house and eating and vegging and visiting. My Mom, my sister and I went and got mani/pedi's and left the kids home with Grandpa. Kurt and Papa moved Cindy's stuff out into her new apt. And Nan took Katie shopping for her birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa taught the kids how to play codfish, a card game, and I made white chocolate covered popcorn with marshmellows and pretzles and ate myself sick.

An AWESOME weekend!

Owen's big day!

2011-04-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

Weekly Random-ness

2011-04-12T07:01:00.001-05:00

*The morning of General Conference we woke up to snow. And it kept snowing on and off all day. It was crazy as it was 78 degrees just 2 days before.

*Seriously. Must every blanket and book in the house be used when building a fort?

*We went and got our taxes done. That's all I'm going to say about that.

*I'm all about the details.

*It's been a busy week getting the house cleaned spic and span for Owen's baptism. We're excited for his big day on Saturday.

*Pictures from the archives:

Burying the boys after raking leaves.

Gavin eating the leftover brownie batter out of the bowl.

Finished Bathroom

2011-04-05T14:01:00.006-05:00

{Before and After's}

We finally finished. There are a couple of small minor details we need to finish up, but other than that finito!

We added board and batten to two walls. (I LOVE IT!) We painted the upper walls a green color. If you know Stampin' Up Colors, it's close to Certainly Celery.

We put pictures up above the trim (still need to add pictures), and bought a new shower curtain.

There was no light over by the toilet or the shower and it was very dark. Kurt took the fan out and replaced it with a fan/light combo. I love how it looks like a regular light. You would never know it has a fan too.

We added a shelf that we already had and decorated with things we had around the house. One of my favorite things that we did in this bathroom re-do was we framed out the mirror. It makes a huge difference.

View from the toilet. I made sure it looked pretty.

It's nice having a room complete. Now onto the next room.....

Weekly Random-ness

2011-04-01T23:00:00.005-05:00

*Church was Awesome! I was well fed.

*I made home-made bread and it was the best batch I've ever made. I love the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house. Heaven.

*I cooked swiss chard for the first time. It will probably most likely also be the last time.

*We busted out the Easter decor only to look outside and see that it was snowing.

*Mom called to tell me that she wants me to put a first aid kit together for her birthday.

*Everyone has come down with a cold, except me and Eli. Trying my hardest to stay germ free.

*Owen is getting baptised next week. Crazy!

*The other day I went to put Eli down for his nap. When I went in to get his bottle out of his bed, he was already in it.??. I don't remember putting him in it. A couple of days later he woke up from his nap and was fussing. The next thing I know he comes walking out of his room.!!. (huh?!?) I've yet to see it with my own eyes, but appearantly he can climb in and climb out of his crib by himself.

*I've been a domestic diva this whole week.

*Happy Birthday to my brother, Vincent.

*Pictures from the archives:
Me and my man. 2007? Sitting on a bench at Wheeler farm.

July 2004. St. Louis Missouri. Our Brothers and Sister.

It's that time of year again......

2011-04-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

If there's one thing that our family loves, ...it's homemade strawberry jam.

Fieldtrip

2011-03-31T10:30:00.002-05:00

{Dinosaur Museum}

Gavin's preschool went to the Dinosaur Museum. Since Isaac and Owen were off track, they got to come too. We took our sweet time (We never go there and milked every last second of it.) and were the last of all the preschoolers to leave.

Containment

2011-03-30T15:07:00.018-05:00

Works for about 10 minutes.

72 hour kits

2011-03-28T23:06:00.005-05:00

{First Aid Kits}

I have been working on getting our 72 hour kits put together. For reals this time. Real ones that have ALL necessary supplies, and a kit for each member of our family. While it is definitely a daunting task, I have broken it down and am first just working on getting our first aid kits put together. I have also decided to get our first aid kits updated in our 2 cars and our home as well. In total I am putting together 8 first aid kits (2 cars, home, 5 people). While there are a ton of websites out there, I have gleened information from here to give me ideas and keep me motivated.

(This post is lengthy, but hopefully it helps anyone who may be putting their kits together to be able to see what they need and where they can save.)

As I was going through our kits, I noticed that alot of the items were expired and needed to be tossed. We did have a lot of band aids of all sizes, gauze, and antiseptic wipes, and a few other things, but other than that I pretty much needed to buy everything else. Our kits were pretty wimpy. I wanted to get them where they would be well stocked and have everything we needed if we were ever really in an emergency situation.

I sorted through everything that we had, made a list and went to Walmart to get the needed items. I had to buy a lot of stuff and while I was there I picked up other non first aid items such as toiletry items, headlamps, emergency blankets, ponchos, flashlights, and a few other things. What I came to realize as I saw my total at the check out stand was that 72 hour kits are not cheap.

When I got home, even though I had purchased other items besides my first aid kit items, I still had much to buy (food, equipment, etc.). I needed to cut corners anywhere I could. So, I headed to The Dollar Tree to check it out and see if there was anything that I could find there. And surprisingly enough, I found quite a bit.

I found the following items and compared prices, sizes, and ingredients to the Equate brand at Walmart.
Walmart: elastic bandage $2.98 2" Dollar Tree: $1.00 2"
Walmart: elastic bandage $2.98 3" Dollar Tree: $1.00 3" they also carried a 4" bandage too.
Walmart: antihistamine $2.96 for 24 tablets Dollar Tree: $1.00 24 tablets
Walmart: ibuprofen $.98 24 tablets Dollar Tree: $1.00 40 tablets
Walmart: children's Tylenol $2.13 for 30 tablets Dollar Tree: $1.00 24 tablets
Walmart: aspirin $3.28 for 120 tablets Dollar Tree: $1.00 60 tablets
Walmart: triple antibiotic ointment $2.52 1 oz. Dollar Tree: $1.00 .33 oz.
Walmart: hydrocortizone cream $2.76 1 oz. Dollar Tree: $1.00 1 oz.
Walmart: rolled gauze $2.17, 2 inches 2.5 yards Dollar Tree: $1.00 2.5 yards
Walmart: acetaminophen $.98 24 tablets Dollar Tree: $1.00 40 tablets
Walmart Total: $23.74 Dollar Tree Total: $10.00

Everything that I compared to the stuff bought at Walmart had the exact percentage of ingredients and was either the same size or had more in it. I normally wouldn't buy Dollarstore brand medicines (and buying a cheaper brand may not be a comforting move when it comes to an emergency), but their labels were all but identical in both the wording and the ingredients. Then again during an emergency you may not care what brand it is, you may just be thankful to have anything at all. (Unless you know something I don't know about generic brands......please tell.)

One thing that really made it easy to buy the dollarstore items was the fact the I wanted to be able to put antibiotic ointment in 5 of the kits I am making. I was able to pay $5 bucks and get five ointments and if they expired before we used them up, then no big deal, they were a buck a piece. If I bought five of them at Walmart at $2.52 each, that would be $12.60. The expiration dates on the dollar store ointments was a year longer than the expiration date on the Walmart ointments.

Same with the "Ace" bandages. I wanted them in 5 of our 8 kits. At $2.98 each at walmart, that would be $14.90 for 1 bandage in each kit. Buying them at the dollar store, I was able to put 2 different sizes in all 5 kits for $10 bucks. (I did open up the packages to compare the material. The dollar store bandage was very comprable. The only real difference I saw were the metal clasps that hold the bandage in place. Walmart clasps were nicer. Keep extra safety pins in your kit and they'll work just fine.)

Other items I was able to buy at the dollar store to include in our 72 hour kits were:
tweezers
box of individually wrapped moist wipes (great for after meals)
toothbrushes
manicure set
rain ponchos 2/$1 at walmart $.88 each
matches
pill holder
I used the same first aid list that preparedldsfamily used. I have our 72 hour first aid kits stored in large zip loc bags. I'm wandering if there is a better storage for it. It seems like it would be the most compactful. I have just a couple of more things to get in my kits, and then it's onto the next phase of the 72 hour kits.

Room with a view

2011-03-27T17:02:00.008-05:00

The view from our front door this morning.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-03-25T15:30:00.003-05:00

*I Love my bathroom redo.

*Jimmer=Sweet 16!

*Eli is starting to mutter words. His favorite: moooom, moooom, mmooooom, mooom over and over and over and over. He also say bum, ya, night-night, nanna, bye-bye, ball, and go. He also barks like a dog, and meows like a cat.

*If you're going to do something, then do it right.

*Iceberg milkshakes are scrumdittlyumptious!

*Gavin is the loudest little human you will ever encounter. I don't think he knows how to be quiet.

*Wow, I am not a person of drama. AT ALL!

*I took the kids to Ikea. First we went and ate, then I put the kids in the kid care center. When I came back to pick them up, they were sitting on a bench. They got kicked out of the ball pit...........again. The last time I took them there, they got kicked out then too. They said that it wasn't their fault and that the workers there are mean. (Isaac said a little kid was throwing balls at him and instead of getting after the little kid, they told Isaac to get out.)

*After we went to Ikea, we went to Cabela's. Eli was in animal heaven. We then played the shooting game that they have upstairs. (Did you know at that our Cabela's if you ask them, they will give you free tokens. Sweet, huh. The lady gave us a ton.)When we left and were getting in the car, I opened the door to put Eli in and a vase that I bought at Ikea fell out and broke. :(

*BYU lost to Florida and is out of the tournement.

*I can clean my room one day and the very next day it will be just as messy if not messier. It's crazy the way that works.

*My husband is a rockstar on the optometry front.

*I signed up for Bountiful Baskets to try it out. It wasn't too bad. I signed up again for Saturday and with my speedy fingers, I was able to get a location very close to my house. Saweeeet!

*Pictures from the archive:
Owen 2006: Trying to figure out what that "thing" is.

Kurt 2007. Optometry Graduation.

Classic Fun Birthday

2011-03-25T11:53:00.005-05:00

We finally gave in and took the party else where other than our house. Owen chose the Classic Fun Center. While it was fun, the people watching was even better.

Owen invited 6 friends to join in his adventure.
Opening presents before we left.
Eating pizza.Kurt doing the jumping game.

There were a ton of people there. I will for sure go on a weekday next time. Of course there will be a next time because, "If Owen gets to go, then I do to!" Isaac's birthday is in May.

Eight is great!

2011-03-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

{Owen's Birthday}

Ever heard the saying....

2011-03-22T10:00:00.003-05:00

{If you want somebody else to change, then first change yourself.}

While many full heartily believe in this statement, I beg to differ. Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but this statement drives me crazy.

What it should read is: If you want to create harmony, then change yourself to tolerate that other person. Or in other words, put up with their crap and by doing so you will enable them to keep on doing what they're doing. Thus creating harmony because you are "tolerating" them.

That's how I see it.

My husband on the other hand..........he's more of an optimist. Sees the glass half full kinda guy. He believes in this statement. He sees it in a spiritual sense, and sees a greater picture.

I just don't see how changing yourself would change another person. Yes, one's example can do wonders. BUT it is up to the other person to have the desire to want to make a change.

One of my Facebook Friend's (Megan) posted this as her status line yesterday, "When somebody says you've changed, it's only because you stopped living life their way."

I LOVE this quote.

For me what these quotes boil down to is this: Don't try to change other people. Don't try to make them conform to your ways. (Unless it's your own kids.) It's not your job. BUT do try to set a good example, and yes, tolerate them to bring harmony into your relationship. But don't expect them to change. The nice thing is, you get to choose with whom you do and don't want to associate with.

Working hard, or hardly working?

2011-03-21T13:00:00.001-05:00

{A Bathroom Re-do}

We are still in the process of fixing up our home. We have much to do still, but we're taking it little by little. I've been waiting to tear into the bathroom.

Holes needed to be patched, the walls painted, and the mirror was screaming "help me!" We are in the finishing stages and I'm looking forward to the end result.

Here is our work in progress.

We're putting up board and batten. I'm super excited for this. I love this look.

Painting the boards, getting them ready to be nailed up. Two of our empty Panda boxes came in handy for this job.

Painting the walls. We went with a green celery color. White on the bottom, green on the top.

The day I started this project our local Panda Express was having their family day. Buy 1 get one free. Can you say A-W-S-O-M-E! I got there at the perfect time, just before the line really got long. I ordered 10, two entree meals. Since it was buy 1 get 1 free I only paid for 5 of them. Kurt thinks I'm crazy. I didn't hear him complaining though.

(I hate it when I'm working on a project and I have to stop to make dinner. This was perfect. Not only did I not have to make dinner, I had lunch for after church the next day. Even better!)

We are replacing the fan in the bathroom with a light/fan combo. The room is soooo dark, and this will really make a difference. Kurt had to climb in the attic to replace it.
Kurt stuck his head down through the hole and was talking to Gavin. Gavin couldn't figure out where he was, and kept looking in the toilet. He couldn't figure out why it kept talking to him. He finally figured out to look up, and saw where Kurt was hiding.

I couldn't get Eli to stay off the ladder.

We are framing out the mirror, which I know will do wonders for this space.

I am hoping to get it completely finished by the end of the week.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-03-18T08:57:00.003-05:00

*Sunday was day light savings. Remarkably, we were only a couple of minutes late for church. The place was empty. We had our pick of any bench in the chapel.

*The weather has been beautiful.

*We've opened up a can of "there's no going back now." We are going to a "fun center" for Owen's birthday party. Of course Isaac wants to do the same type of thing. This is a first for us to venture out and forego the home party.

*I bet I sweep my kitchen floor more times in a day than you sweep your kitchen floor.

*I am exhausted. Today I lost my brain. There were two things that I knew that I had to do, but forgot about them when the time came. DUH!

*I made the best ice cream cake EVER. Happy birthday Owen!

*The great debate inside my head: Rug under the kitchen table or no rug under the kitchen table. Is it worth having one with kids?

*This has been a crazy week. Super busy. I'm glad it's almost over.

*Pictures from the archives:

Baby Gavin: This boy weighed 9 lb. 6 oz. when he was born.

Kurt and I. Kurt's first year of optometry school. At the "Eyeball" 2003.

Happy St. Patty's Day.

2011-03-17T10:19:00.002-05:00

I saw these and had to try them out with my Sillhouette. They were so easy and fast. I had 3 of them made in 45 minutes. That was from start to finish & clean up. (doesn't include dry time).

I Printed out the saying onto vinyl. Peeled vinyl off and used the negative space. (white has no vinyl) This is called masking.

Painted words using Tulip fabric paint and a sponge brush.

Peeled the mask (vinyl) off of shirt. The end product.

Don't mess. Wanna pinch me? I Don't Think So.

Looks like Isaac is still taller by half a hand.

Happy Green Day.

Sillhouette Cutter

2011-03-17T09:41:00.004-05:00

For a while now, (a year or two) I have been coveting/wanting a vinyl cutter. While I'm not one for plastering vinyl sayings all over my house, there have just been too many times that a vinyl cutter woulda/coulda came in handy.

A couple of weeks ago, all over blog land, everyone had a special that was linked up to the Sillhouette to get it for an great price. I sheepishly told Kurt that I wanted it (but couldn't justify the money). When I told him how much it was, he laughed as he was waiting to hear something to the sound of a thousand dollars. When he heard hundreds he laughed, and said, "Sweetheart, get it."

And I Did!

And I LOVE IT!

I put it to use the second I got it. I had two Student of the week posters to make.

A chore chart to finish.

And last night I made these for the boys.

This machine is awesome! Not only does it cut vinyl, but it cuts cardstock and fabric too. And the absolute best thing about it........it doesn't need any cartridges that you have to store. It stores everything right there on your computer. And graphics are a mere .99 cents.

It's the best present that I've bought myself in a long time.

Rocketships

2011-03-15T21:29:00.000-05:00

{Not to be confused with this.}

At pack meeting the scouts raced rockets made out of paper cups that were powered by balloons or air from the scout's mouth. Let's just say that Owen and Isaac didn't stand a chance against the Banana Blaster.

Owen's first scouting experience. He is now a Wolf.

The Banana Blaster in action!

Apparently we never got the memo that you could use 2 foot long balloons.

That thing hauled.

Yea! Everyone's a winner in scouts.

Super Star

2011-03-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

Owen is Star Student this week at school.

It is also his birthday on Wednesday!

Weekly Random-ness

2011-03-11T11:29:00.003-06:00

*I have to strategically ~~sneak~~ place Gavin's schoolwork papers in the trash can so he can't see them. You know, shove them way down and throw a rotten tomato and a couple of wadded up paper towels dripping with bacon grease and an egg carton leaking slimy egg parts to disguise any form of the letter "H" that he had colored that week. Otherwise, he will dig them out and grill me as to why I would ever throw any of his school papers away.

*I took my car to the car wash. I can count the number of times on one hand that I have washed my car. I've had it for over 10 years. When I drove away it felt as though I was driving a brand new car. It was Awesome! And the inside. Not a crumb. Not a fry stuck in the crevasses between the seats. The amount of suction that their vacuum had was insane. I'm pretty sure it could have sucked up one of my kids.

*I hate taking kids grocery shopping with me. I especially hate taking all 4 of my kids grocery shopping with me. But I am a rockstar at wrangling them. It takes muscle and some force (and a bottle of milk for the wee one), but I have it mastered. Oh, and bribing. Lots of bribing.

*Every time I have all 4 of my boys with me in the grocery store, I am guaranteed to be stopped by some sweet old lady who asks, {gasp} Are these all yours? And then she'll proceed to tell me how many sons she has and how I have my hands full. Of course I agree with her and smile as I walk away knowing that there is someone else out there who also knows the "joys" of having 4

boys.

*There is someone in my house (I won't name names), who has the stinkiest feet you've ever smelt. Ronchy.

*I rocked my lesson in Young Women's on Sunday.

*We are getting ready to do more work on the house. I can't wait. Molding and painting, oh my!

*I put my big, green, spring-time wreath on the front door. I'm hoping it will bring good summer vibes.

*Last night Isaac informed us that little drops of water kept falling on him while he was laying on his bed. Great. I think we have a leak in the bathroom above his room. The only problem, how do you find a leak under a tub and shower without ripping out his bedroom ceiling. I don't know if it's possible.

*Kurt has been getting his ride on up at Brighton. He is Loving it.

*Isaac learned a hard lesson about "Why am I the only one that doesn't get to do anything fun. Their younger than me and they get to. It's not fair." Son, it's just because it really isn't that cool to play with fire.

*I bought 3 Blurb book vouchers from Jasmere and I forgot about them. They expired in February. I am kicking myself right now. I almost want to throw a tantrum.

*Japan was hit with an earthquake followed by a tsunami. The damages are catastrophic. My heart is heavy for them. I am blessed to be safe here with my family.

*A couple of pictures from the archives:

Owen and Isaac: 2007 taken the day we moved to Utah.

This picture cracks me up! If you don't know the story, click here or here.
Owen, Isaac, Gavin: 2007. Oh Canada. Looking at a little frog.

Accountable Kids

2011-03-09T23:44:00.009-06:00

{Or Just Kids}

I was introduced to the Accountable Kids program by my visiting teacher. I knew that yelling my kids out the door every morning to school had to change. I was super stoked to hear about this as it sounded like it went along the lines of Love and Logic. (It is not affiliated with Love and Logic.) So I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a set.

It's basically a chore chart divided into three parts. Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. You assign certain chores for different times of the day, and the kids earn tickets for completing their chores. Then with their tickets they can earn things. Things that they already do. Example: it costs 1 ticket/ per activity to watch t.v., play video games, computer time, play with friends, etc. Because these things are a privilege not a right. Right. I like to up the anti and throw in some bigger ticket items like ice cream 2 tickets, Panda express on Friday night 5 tickets, Dinosaur Museum 20 tickets.

Each chore card has an assigned job and a complete description of how it is to be completed. Once completed the card is flipped over and hung on the finished peg. All of the morning chores are yellow, the afternoon are green, and the evening are blue. I have it set up where they can earn extra tickets for doing extra things like studying for 10 minutes in the morning or reading scriptures with the family. They can also earn money by doing "mom's chores".

Because I didn't want to fork out the money for a chore chart for each of my kids, I bought one and then made my own for my other two boys. I already had some "raffle" tickets, and they work perfectly.
So far it seems to be working and they are actually doing it. This system is designed so that I, as the parent, don't need to yell or remind them of what they need to do. And it works. The hardest part is letting them fail, and not complete a job; and not jumping on them to get it finished. They don't want to do their job or don't do it right, no problem; Darn it, tomorrow you will have to remember to do that so you can earn your tickets tomorrow. (That's why I do the big ticket items to keep them excited and want to do their jobs.)

Although this is designed to make kids accountable {hence the name} they are still just kids.

{"They're just a bunch of dumb kids." quote by Kurt. Translation: kids that are still learning that do dumb things. Kids that are going to do dumb things without thinking, because that's what kids do. A kid being a kid.}

My kids are still learning, as am I as their parent. So far the accountability notch in our household has tightened up. And it's feeling good!

Mischief Maker

2011-03-08T22:29:00.004-06:00

If he's not here,

Then I'm sure to find him stuck under here.

Or trying to escape out here.

Or calling Africa from here.

The kid don't stop.

I have Awesome Kids!

2011-03-07T12:35:00.003-06:00

{They must get it from their Father}

Owen came upstairs at 10 'o clock last night in his p.j.'s and basketball shoes.

I said: Owen, you can't go outside, it's too late. You need to goto bed.

He said: I know. I'm just looking for my wallet.

I said: Why do you have your shoes on?

He said: Oh, it's just because they take sooooooo long to get on, so I am just going to sleep in them so I don't have to put them on in the morning.

Weekly Random-ness

2011-03-04T12:01:00.003-06:00

*Kurt has been staying up late for the past week watching The Godfather. He just finished The Godfather III. He tries to guilt me into staying up with him to watch it. I last for about 3 minutes, and then I'm out.......sawing logs. zzzz.zzzz.zzz. How many are there anyway? And why are they so long? And why do guys like them?

*Isaac got his braces off just after having them on for 6 months.

*The cupboards were getting bare, and I didn't want to go grocery shopping. So, I decided to play- Instead of going shopping at the grocery store, lets go shopping in my food storage/pantry/bare cupboards and see how long I can get away without having to go to the store. I love playing that game. It's been a week and I still haven't shopped. I did have to buy milk, bread, and eggs, but that's it. I will do a big shopping trip on Saturay.

*It's crazy how fast you can clean your house when people call and say they are on their way to visit.

*Eli is entering a new phase. He does this whole new fake-cry. And uses it all the time. He ain't fooling me.

*Why is it that you can never eat just one of anything?

*Owen had some money that was burning a hole in his pocket. After days and days of begging us to take him to Walmart to buy a Halo Lego toy, Kurt finally gave in. However, after seeing that all of his money would be gone after his purchase, he decided to save his money and not buy the Lego toy. That's my {Dave Ramsey thinking} boy!

*The latest chant at our house: I farted, I tooted, I got electrocuted. B.O.Y.S. .......that's all I got to say about that.

*Two random pictures from the archives:

Disneyland 2008: Bright and early ready to hit the parks
Halloween 2005: Owen-Shazaam, Isaac-Devil

Celebration Time

2011-03-02T11:19:00.012-06:00

{Cindy Graduates}

Cindy has been living with us for the last 6 1/2 months while going to esthetician school.

She graduated yesterday!!!

Here she is recieving her diploma.

Picture with Mom and Dad.

Cindy with sisters Katie and Lisa.

Gavin ♥'s Cindy .

After Cindy's graduation, we went to Market Street Grill to eat.

I went to use the restroom. When I came out, right there was all of Kurt's staff from his work eating lunch. They were out celebrating all of the staff's birthdays who were in February. Kurt was supposed to be with them, but he was attending his sister's graduation and couldn't make it. Oddly enough they picked the same venue we did to eat at.

Good Job Cindy

Brownie Points

2011-02-28T00:29:00.007-06:00

After dinner, Kurt told the boys to make us some dessert. They happily obliged.